Barack Obama: The Fifth Beatle

Due to busy schedules and sheer exhaustion, I haven't been able to really watch most of the Democratic National Convention, this year. I know it's happening in Denver. And the brief clip that I caught of Mark Warner's speech and my first thought was that the DNC was competing with The recent Beijing Olympics for scale and grandeur. I thought his speech was a little wooden. Even he made the comparison to Obama's landmark speech in 2004 and he and I both thought that he was a slighter substitute.

Last night, however, I sat down with a small, late dinner and watched the MSNBC replay of Joe Biden's speech, accepting the Veep nomination from the democrats. I like Joe Biden. I've liked him for a while. I saw him on Bill Maher, a year or two ago and was really impressed by A.) how straightforward he was and B.) how fearless he was, when tangling with the Republican goon on the show that week. Biden is angry as Hell about how this country is being run into the ground. Which is good. Because I'm angry as Hell about it too. I always wanted him to have a position of more power, so that he could set things back on course. I really believe that he can do that.

His speech last night wasn't nearly as polished as the Joe Biden from two years ago. There were a few gaffe's when delivering his little "jokes". And at one point, the people in the audience would chant along, "More of the Same", with him, holding up a sign with McCain's name on it - and the slogan "More of the Same" on it. It felt a little "rehearsed" and wasn't nearly as effective as Fightin' Joe can be, when he's on an angry, ass-chewing tear!

But there were still flashes of what I think makes Joe Biden great. The story that he shared about how he lost his first wife is heart-breakingly sad. And I thought it was charming as Hell, when he gave a nod to his nonagenarian mother and she was there, nodding along with him. All in all, the speech was a B+.

Afterwards, when the nuts on the floor were hooting and hollering, and the band played a lackluster, karaoke version of Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" (Politicians have a bigger boner for Springsteen than anyone I actually know), Biden's wife Jill came out with a microphone and told Joe that she had a surprise visitor that wanted to come out and talk to him.

"Who is it?" says Biden, genuinely surprised. (I don't think that they rehearsed that bit.)

And then this happened...



Obama hits the stage and people go fucking apey in that auditorium. They absolutely lose their minds. Biden laughs playfully, as if to say, "Oh you scamp!" And Obama and Biden and Jill pose for a few quick pictures and Obama takes the microphone and gives a brief, slightly clunky recap of the previous two nights of the DNC. He gives shout-outs to Biden, Hillary Clinton, President Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy. He gives "props to his peeps" and then invites "anyone within listening distance" to come to an even larger convention center, where he's going to "tear the roof off of that mutha!" Women swoon! Old people wave banners. Photogs take pics! Dogs and Cats! Living Together! Mass Hysteria!

Obama takes a few pics with Biden and they trade banter. I keenly watch their faces to see how they "REALLY" feel about each other and it looks genuinely appreciative. I buy it. I think that these two guys really dig each other! They WANT to work together. They WANT this to work. They WANT to change this country. I believe them.

Afterwards, Obama goes around the back of the stage, to shake hands with the new Democratic Rat Pack. I saw Pelosi there and Howard "The Deano" Dean and a few more familiar faces. All of them smiling at Obama like he's just pulled their children out of a deep well. Such genuine joy and admiration.

And it dawns on me... then and there... that Obama is the fifth Beatle. He's more popular than Jesus. People go absolutely bonkers when he's around. They want to look at him and touch him and shake his hand and take pictures of him. They want him to smile and make a joke and say something "presidential". He carries a tide of inevitability behind him, the sheer confidence of a man who is all but elected into the presidency, that people get caught up in his wake. Grown men and women look at him like those teenage girls used to look at the Beatles in those clips from the 1960's. There's a mad benevolence that their cool exteriors just can't hide.

There's some talk about how McCain has closed a bit of the polling gap between himself and Obama. About how his political ads are now using Hillary Clinton quotes form the primary to make the case that McCain can do it and Obama can make speeches. Blah Blah Blah.

Watching that clip last night and now aware that tonight he's going to speak in front of 75 freaking THOUSAND people, reminds me of what I already knew. It reminds me of my own Republican mother's excitement that the DNC is happening this week. That there's a motherfucking riptide of change gathering behind Obama. Change in how we decide our politicians. Change in what we expect them to do. Change in the steaming mouthloads of shit that we've swallowed in the last eight years. Change for Americans on the most basic levels.

I can't imagine the response that the flaccid Republican party could mount that will offer any resistance to what Barack is bringing.

It's going to be a slaughter, come November.

Thank God, right?

Cheers,
Mr.B